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Explaining Scientists’ Plans for International Mobility from a Life Course Perspective

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Abstract

We identify factors influencing young scientists’ plans for research stays abroad by embedding theories of social inequality, educational decision making, and migration into a life course framework. We test the developed model of international academic mobility by calculating a structural equation model using data from an online survey of scientists employed at German universities below the rank of full professor. We find that earlier international mobility mobilises scientists to plan a research stay abroad. This turns out to be a potential channel of social inequality reproduction, as individuals from a high social origin in particular spend time abroad in their early life course. Moreover, scientists’ research contexts play a vital role: Internationalised institutional environments and academic disciplines as well as personal international networks create opportunity structures that ease research stays abroad. Similarly, the current social context matters: Parenthood decreases the likelihood of plans for international mobility among female scientists. This may entail long-lasting gender inequalities. Finally, young scientists striving for an academic career are more likely to plan a research stay abroad than those with exit plans. Our results show that beyond the current context, both past life events and future life goals shape scientists’ decisions about international mobility.

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Notes

  1. Our article builds on Netz and Jaksztat (2014). We wish to present a more holistic model of international academic mobility by refining the theoretical components, by additionally including a further component (career orientation), and by embedding our theoretical considerations into a life course framework. Moreover, we broaden our focus from doctoral candidates to all academics below the rank of full professor and apply a more advanced and better suited method to test our hypotheses.

  2. The survey excluded staff working at medical faculties because it was not possible to precisely differentiate between academic and exclusively medical staff. Moreover, doctorates in medicine differ substantially from those in other disciplines because the former are less work-intensive and they are obtained by most graduates.

  3. Mobility during studies refers to stays abroad during higher education programmes at bachelor’s or master’s level. Mobility after graduation comprises mobility during the Ph.D. and the post-doc phase.

  4. In many European countries including Germany, academics intending to obtain a professorship were, until recently, required to write a habilitation thesis (usually a book publication exceeding the doctoral thesis in scientific quality). Nowadays, it is also possible to qualify for a professorship through a series of research articles.

  5. STDXY for metric independent variables and STDY for binary independent variables.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Susanne de Vogel, Andreas Daniel, and our anonymous reviewers for their many valuable comments.

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  1. German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), Lange Laube 12, 30159, Hannover, Germany

    Nicolai Netz & Steffen Jaksztat

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  1. Nicolai Netz
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Correspondence to Nicolai Netz.

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The results presented in this article do not allow for deductive disclosure of the survey participants’ identities. Participation in the survey was voluntary and participants’ confidentiality was protected.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4 and 5.

Table 4 Distribution of scientists below the rank of full professor across fields of study and sex—comparison of sample to population data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany
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Table 5 Test of configural invariance across groups of scientists
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Netz, N., Jaksztat, S. Explaining Scientists’ Plans for International Mobility from a Life Course Perspective. Res High Educ 58, 497–519 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-016-9438-7

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